NFC adds 'noticeable premium' to smartphone cost

But Samsung says additional price won't make or break tech

Samsung has told TechRadar that it thinks NFC is about to take off, despite the extra cost associated with the technology.

Jim Powell, head of product management for Samsung Mobile UK, told us that networks were deeply interested in pushing the technology and had asked Samsung for products to satisfy that:

"We're seeing NFC across an increasing number of devices. The Galaxy S2 and the new Wave 578 won't be the end of our involvement in the technology," said Powell.

Network drive

"In the UK the drive is coming from the networks, as they see a real opportunity with the technology which is why they come to us and ask for a specific product - like the Wave 578.

"NFC is coming in a big way, and the change is going to be enormous over the next 12 months.

"NFC obviously incurs a natural development cost - it will be a noticeable premium on handsets but it won't be huge, and it certainly won't be the reason NFC technology in phones becomes popular or fails."

With some analysts predicting over half of all mobile phones will be NFC-enabled in 2015, this makes a degree of sense, so keep an eye out for an increasing number of people touching stuff with their handsets.